Thomas spencer miller



(No Model.)

T. S. MILLER. HOISTING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS.

Patented Mar. 10,1891.

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I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS SPENCER MILLER, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

HOISTING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 447,892, dated March 10, 1891.

Application filed July 12, 1890. Serial No. 358,533. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS SPENCER MIL- LER, of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hoisting and Conveying Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the system complete. Fig. 2 shows in detail the elements which are most essential to the system.

a is a cable extending between the two towers b and b, and it may occupy a position nearly horizontal. as to travel on this cable, being provided with the Wheels 0 and c, from which is suspended a frame carrying the journals of the sheaves (l and d. This carriage-frame may also carry the journals of other sheaves or rollers here inafter referred to.

e is the fall-block, in which is journaled the sheave e.

f is the fall-rope, which is secured to the fall-block e and passes thence upward over the sheave d, thence downward around the sheave e, thence upward over the sheave d, and thence over the sheave g, journaled in the tower b, and thence around the windingdrum h. This fall-rope performs the function of hauling the carriage toward the tower 1) whenever this is permitted by the slackening of the conveyer-rope hereinafter referred to, and may also perform the function of hoisting the fall-block 6 up to the carriage.

it" t are the fall-rope carriers, which are strung upon the cable between the tower b and the carriage, the cable passing through a hole j in each, of somewhat larger diameter than the cable.

The fall-ropef passes through an opening 70 (preferably a vertical slot) in each of the fall-rope carriers. This slot provides for an up-and-down play of the fall-rope when in the act of hoisting, but prevents the undue sagging of the fall-rope at other times.

It is important that the fall-rope carriers should be automatically placed at proper distances apart for properly performing their functions, and this is accomplished by means of the series of stops Z Z 1", which are supported in a series substantially parallel with thecable a, as by the auxiliary rope m, ex-

A carriage is mountedso' tending between the towers Z) and b, to each of which it is secured in a fixed position. This auxiliary rope m passes through openings 'n n 02?, which are preferably slots, and in passing by the carriage it passes under the roller 0, whereby its substantial parallelism with the cable is further maintained. The openings 72 n n are preferably vertical slots, so as to provide for any deflection in auxiliary rope other than that caused by roller 0; also, so as to 'afiord a frictionless passage for the carriers over the auxiliary rope m.

Therelationship between the series of openings n n n and the series of stops Z Z Z is such that all of the carriers may advance with the carriage past the first stop an, excepting the last carrier 2', and those remaining may advance past the second stop Z, excepting the next to the last carrier 2'', and so on throughout the series, each stop being adapted to arrest one of the fall-rope carriers. This may be accomplished by the relative sizes of the series of openings n n n and the series of stops. Thus as the series of stops ZZ Z advances from the tower 1) toward the tower I) each succeeding member of the series may be larger in diameter than the preceding member, and correspondingly as the series of openings at n n advances from the tower I) each succeeding opening maybe larger than the preceedin g one. It is also important to provide means whereby the carriage may be hauled from the tower 1) toward the tower Z), and also whereby the carriage may be held stationary in any position along the cable while the fall-block c is being hauled up to the proper elevation by the fall-rope. This is accomplished by means of the rope p,which' is secured at one end to the carriage, as at p, and passes thence around the sheave 19 j ournaled in the tower b, thence back again and over the sheavep and thence around thewinding-drum p As it passes by the carriage its posit-ion is maintained relatively thereto by the rolls p p.

The rope p I designate a retainingand outward-hauling rope by reason of its performance of two functions-one, to retain the carriage in position when the load is being tower b. It is important that this retaining and outward-hauling rope 12 should also have means whereby it is prevented from sagging, and these means should also be so arranged that they will automatically arrange themselves ata proper distance along the conveyorrope, as required. For that portion of the conveyerrope which extends between the tower b and the carriage the same system of rope-carriers t' t" t which serves the purpose of preventing the sag of the fall-rope performs a like function with respect to the rope p by virtue of the fact that the rope p passes throughthe openings q q g (preferably vertical slots) in the respective carriers t 1" F. It is, however, also important that both lengths of the rope should be supported so as not to sag between the carriage and the tower b. This is accomplished by the series of ropecarriers r 4' 4*, and the several members of this series of rope-carriers are automatically placed in proper position by the series of stops 3 8 8 supported substantially parallel with the cable a, as by the second auxiliary rope 8 which is fixed to the towers b and b, and which, to better insure 'its parallelism with the cable, may pass under the roller .9,

(shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2,) which is journaled in the carriage. The second auxiliary rope 5 passes through the series of openings 25 #15 in the rope-carriers 'r r W, and these openings are preferably vertical slots. The automatic placing of the series of ropecarriers 0 r r is accomplished by the relationship between the series of openings t t t and the series of' stops 8 8 .9 Thus as the series of stops advances from the tower b toward the tower I) each succeeding member of the series may be of largerdiameter than the next preceding member, and as the series of openings it t advances in the same direc tion each succeeding member of the series may be Wider than the preceding one, so that the rope-carrier 1' will be arrested by the stop s and the rope-carrier 'r by the stop 8, and so on throughout any number constituting the series. As the carriage advances toward the tower bit will push the series of rope-carriers 'i z" i in front of it, and as it advances toward the tower b it will push the series 1 r r in front of it; but as it retreats from the tower b it is important that it should carry the series of rope-carriers i t" 2' with it until each member of the series is arrested by its proper stop, and also as the carriage retreats from the tower b it is important'that it should carry the series of ropecarriers r rr with it until each of that series is arrested by its proper stop. The same mechanism may be employed on opposite sides of the carriage for performing this function with respect to the respective series of ropecarriers, and the mechanism which I prefer to employ for this function consists of the two horns u and u, projecting from the carriage toward the tower b, and the horns a u", projecting from the carriage toward the tower Z). These horns are downwardly inclined near their points,but are horizontal or otherwise inclined adjacent to the carriage, and in each of the rope-carriers is provided a pair of holes 11 c in such position that the extremities of the horns pass through-them and each rope-carrier is raised slightly by the inclination near the extremity of the horn and deposited upon the horizontal portion of the horn adjacent to the carriage, in which position the support having frictional contact with the rope-carrier is transferred from the cable to the horns connected with the carriage. a

The operation of the system is as follows: Suppose a load is required to be lifted from the position 00, Fig. 1, and transferred to a distance. The carriage will be placed in the position shown in Fig. 1 on the cable. The fallblock will then be lowered and made fast to the load. Then the drum 19 will be held stationary while the winding proceeds on the drum 72 until the load is raised to the height required. If it is desired to transferthe load in the direction of the arrow y, it will be accomplished by continuing the inwinding of the drum h and at the same time proceeding to pay out from the drum 1). As the conveying in this direction proceeds far enough to bring the carriage up to each of the several .members of the series 1' 1 t of rope-carriers,

that member of the series will be picked up by the horns u u and carried along by the carriage, so far as it goes in that direction without any sliding friction upon the cable. At the same time as the carriage passes by each stop of the series .9 s s it will leave at that stop one of the rope-carriers which it has been previously carrying with it upon the horns 11. to? hen the conveying has proceeded to the desired distance in the direction of the arrow y, the paying out of the drump may be stopped and the drum 72. may be al lowed to pay out, so as to lower the fall-block and deposit the load where required.

Returning now to the position shown in Fig. 1, if it be desired to convey the load in the direction of the arrow y the rope 1) will be wound in upon the drum p impelling the carriage toward the tower b, and to a proper degree the drum h will be allowed to pay out, so as to maintain the desired elevation of. the load. As the carriage advances in this direction the succeeding members of the series of rope-carriers which it encounters will be picked up by the horns a u and each succeeding stop of the series Z Z Z will claim one rope-carrier from the horns a a. When the conveying has proceeded far enough in this direction, the drum 19 will be stopped and the paying out of the drum it continued until the load is deposited.

By the operation already described, no matter which direction the carriage moves in, the fall-rope and the conveyer-rope will always be provided with carriers properly spaced for supporting them against sagging, and at the same time (in the preferable form which I have just described) the sliding friction of the various parts upon one another will be prevented while they are moving relatively, but will be availed of when they are intended to occupy a fixed relative position for the time bein I am well aware that the mechanical parts and their arrangement and number may be in the above description and in the accompanying drawings I have set forth what Iconsider to be the best form of structure in which to embody my invention I do not desire to be limited to such form.

One modification of which the form for embodying my invention is susceptible is illustrated in Fig. 1, where a flexible connection is indicated by dotted lines between each two of each series of rope-carriers and between the towersb and b',respectively, and the ropecarriers adjacent thereto and between the carriage and the rope-carriers adjacent thereto. In this case, obviously, the auxiliary ropes m and s and the stops supported thereby and the openings in the rope-carriers co-operating with said stops may be omitted.

In the foregoing specification, to avoid confusion, I have referred to the rope f as a fallrope, but by this I do not necessarily mean a rope which acts to hoist up to the carriage (as would generally be required of it when used with a horizontal cable) as well as to inwardly haul the carriage, because, although the fall-rope in the example shown performs both of those functions, yet it may perform only the inward hauling function and will still be within the scope of my claims. Nor do I use the term cable in a strict sense. It would manifestly include as equivalents any trackway from which the carriage could be supported.

I claim 1. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a cable, a carriage to travel thereon, a fall-rope, a retaining and outward-hauling rope, and a rope-carrier which acts to sustain both the fall-rope and the retaining and outward-haulin g rope, substantially as described.

2. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a cable, a carriage to travel thereon, a fall-rope, a retaining and outward-hauling rope, and a carrier whereby the retaining and outward-hauling rope is supported, substantially as described.

3. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a cable, a carriage to travel thereon, a fall-rope, a retaining and outward-hauling rope, a rope-carrier whereby said fall-rope is fall-rope, a retaining and outward-hauling rope, a series of rope-carriers whereby said fall-rope is supported, mechanism whereby the position of said fall-rope carriers is automatically determined, a series of retaining and outward-hauling rope carriers, and mechanism whereby the position of said retaining and outward-hauling rope carriers is automatically determined, substantially as described.

5. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a cable, a carriage to travel thereon, a fall-rope, a retaining and outward hauling rope, a fall-rope carrier, a stop whereby the position of the same is determined, a retaining and outward-hauling rope carrier, a stop whereby the position of the same is determined, and means whereby said parts are supported, substantially as described.

6. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a cable, a carriage to travel thereon, a retaining and outward-hauling rope, a series of retaining and outward-hauling rope carriers, a series of stops, each of which is adapted to engage one of said carriers, and means for supporting said stops, substantially as described.

7. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a cable, a carriage to travel thereon, a fall-rope, a retaining and outward-hauling rope, a series of fall-rope carriers, a series of stops, each of which is adapted to engage one of said fall-rope carriers, means for supporting said stops, a series of retaining and outward-hauling rope carriers, a series of stops, each of which is adapted to engage one of said retaining and outward-hauling rope carriers, and means for supporting said last-mentioned stops, substantially as described.

8. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a cable, a carriage to travel thereon, a fall-rope, a series of fall-rope carriers, a series of stops, each adapted to engage one of said fall-rope carriers, a retaining and outwardhauling rope, a series of retaining and outward-hauling rope carriers, a series of 'stops, each adapted to engage one of said retaining and outward-hauling rope carriers, and means whereby said two series of stops are supported so as to overlap one another, and thereby extend the range of movement of said two series of rope carriers, substantially as described.

9. In a hoisting and conveying apparatus, in combination, a cable, a carriage to travel thereon, a retaining and outward hauling rope, a retaining and outward-hauling rope carrier, and means connected with said carriage and said retaining and outward-hauling rope carrier, whereby the carriage causes the return of the carrier to a supporting position, substantially as described.

10. In a conveying apparatus, in combination, a cable, a carriage to travel thereon, a rope-carrier arranged to slide upon said cable, and means connected with said carriage IICI retaining and outward-hauling rope, a retaining and outward-hauling rope carrier, a stop whereby the supporting position of said carrier is determined, a rope whereby said stop is supported, and a supporting device connected with the carriage, whereby the position of said last-mentioned rope is determined '20 at the point Where it passes the carriage, substantially as described.

THOMAS SPENCER MILLER. Vitnesses:

FRED S. KEMPER, JAMES T. LAW. 

